Posted on October 31st, 2008 in Uncategorized
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Well, it looks like there’s an sql injection vulnerability in prosper202 up to version 1.1.1. If you’re running the prosper202 software, you need to go upgrade to the latest version. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS HERE first, before going to the download page and getting the latest version.
This is very serious as some douchebag has been going around stealing peoples campaigns and rooting their servers. Apparently there is an affiliate who’s known about this vuln for a week or two at least and when asked to report the bug to Wes, he decided instead to keep it for personal benefit and give it out to his friends instead. A giant FUCK YOU goes out on behalf of nickycakes.com and probably many others. The respect you would have earned by doing the right thing far outweighs any tiny ass profits your buddies made. You know who you are.
In any case, Nicky’s stuff doesn’t seem to be hacked and is all patched up now.
Since the new version is open source, you can now do some fun stuff with the software that was more difficult before. For example, if you’re like Cakes, you may have mis-named some of your traffic sources which make them show up as a question mark in spy view. You can now go into the 202-config/functions-tracking202.php file and change the regex responsible for deciding which icon to use, as well as add new ones for traffic sources that aren’t by default included.
see everyone in ny
Published by nickycakes //
Ad:Tech New York starts in about a week (Nov 3-6) and Nickycakes is just now finalizing his plans for the trip. Those of you who don’t know much about ad:tech are in the same boat as Cakes. Everyone has said it’s a really crazy time and any excuse to take a trip is always welcome, though.
Apparently, it’s a huge advertising conference with like 3 floors of exhibit hall and tons of stuff going on. If you’ve been to Affiliate Summit, this thing is supposed to completely blow it out of the water in terms of size. It’s labeled as an advertising and technology conference, which is right up Cakes’ alley.
At these conferences, if you’ve never been, there are a lot of parties held by big ad companies, networks, etc. Most require some sort of RSVP. You would do well to rsvp to as many as possible, even if you haven’t decided which ones you want to go to on which nights, etc. That way if sharasale has another lame ass sausage fest boat party, you can jet and hit up whatever copeac sponsored event is going on which will no doubt be off the hook. You get the idea. Your best bet is to go to the list if exhibitors and ask your contacts at any of the companies you recognize where the parties are gonna be at. Here are a few on the list that Cakes has done business with, directly or indirectly:
7search
AdOn Network
Affiliate Summit, Inc.
Clicksor, Inc.
Commission Junction
CPAEmpire/Media Breakaway
CX Digital
DirectTrack
Google
Hydra Network
Neverblue
Pulse 360
Yahoo
Didn’t see Advaliant on the list, but they’re going to be there in some capacity since they’re sponsoring some expensive ass vip party something-or-other.
Ok, so where to stay in NYC for the conference? The best way to find a good hotel/restaurant/anything in an unfamiliar place these days is to just go to yelp.com and enter the address where you want to be, and you can see the top user-rated spots. Here’s the list of the top rated hotels within 4 blocks of Ad:Tech NY. The only one of those Nickycakes has stayed at is Flatotel, listed at #10. The first time he stayed there, it was amazing, and the room was incredible with a great view, very clean, etc. The second time, he was assured the room would be the same as the first time, but it was run down, old, and way less quality than the first time. Pretty much hit or miss there, tbh, and the yelp rating suggests the same. Cakes is trying The London since it’s right near the conference and apparently has some really great rooms.
As for food in NY, the only really outstanding place Nicky has been to was Craftsteak, where he had the best steak of his life, and will be returning to eat at adtech. Try the wagyu skirt steak if you make it there. Worth every penny, seriously.
Anyway, Nickycakes’ schedule is pretty much clear for the entire conference, so if you want to hang out or schedule a dinner or something if you’re a company, hurry up and email.
If you’re a NYC resident and know where the good spots are to eat, your suggestions would be much appreciated, so please leave them in the comments.
Keep it real.
Published by nickycakes //
Posted on October 15th, 2008 in General
Itto from blackhatcrew and 40toons.com decided nickycakes.com was too ghetto-fab and sent Cakes a new header.
Keep it real Itto.
Published by nickycakes //
Affiliates who have been in the game for a while start to recognize other big areas of opportunity for making money. The two biggest areas to branch out to, obviously, are running your own network, and being a merchant. Experienced affiliates fit perfectly into running an affiliate network generally because they already know firsthand what affiliates need to get started and they know how to promote the offers well (hopefully).
Directtrack or other affiliate network tracking software does require some money to get started, but after that, it’s relatively cheap to keep a network going, overhead wise, so once the initial costs are covered, it can be extremely profitable, assuming you can attract enough affiliates to run traffic with you and keep them happy. Also, having your own network gives you payout leverage when it comes to running your favorite offer. Obviously if you’re running a network, you get a higher payout on most stuff than the affiliates do. Even a $1 increase in payout can mean a lot more profit if you’re doing high volume.
As an affiliate there are benefits and drawbacks to working with an affiliate run Affiliate Network. Benefits include:
- Experience…obviously having a seasoned affililate as your AM would be better than a random straight out of undergrad.
- Better offers..someone with experience is more likely to pick the offers that are known to pay on time and convert well.
- Better benefits…affiliates know what affiliates want to see as perks having stuff like in house landing page design and good affiliate tools is likely.
Possible drawbacks:
- Shadiness… lets face it, most affiliates are shady. It’s important to trust the person giving you paychecks.
- Financial stability… a big company with tons of money is more trustworthy in terms of getting paid and staying in business than an affiliate who’s funding their network with their personal money stash.
- Privacy… this obviously doesn’t only apply to affiliates who run their own networks, but you automatically know that the owner of the network runs their own campaigns and can benefit from knowing your campaign data. This can happen anywhere though.
Good Affiliate Run Networks
A few of these have emerged recently, and two stand out in Nickycakes’ eyes:
Ordinarily, Nickycakes will never promote a product or service that he’s never actually used before, and in the case of affiliate networks, definately won’t promote a network he’s never gotten a check from before, but this is the exception to the rule. Recently, this network was started by Ruck, formerly of CashTactics. Most of the readers here will probably remember when Ruck ran CashTactics and it was actually good. Recently, though, he gave away the blog to focus on Convert 2 Media, his new affiliate network. Ruck is full of good info, and Nickycakes is sure his team is just as good. In fact, at ASE this year, Ruck hooked Nicky up with some inside info that helped him make a good amount of extra profit, so it’s worth signing up and checking out his offers at least. Ruck’s a good guy and well trusted in the industry, and you’re sure to be getting more help from his team than the normal cookie cutter affiliate network worthless weekly “top offers” emails. Sign Up Here
It’s almost silly to even mention Ads4Dough on this blog, as 90% of the readers have probably already signed up. A4D is run by the infamous Smaxor (Jason), well known on Wickedfire forums and his blog where he regularly helps people with coding, blackhat seo, ppc, and other fun. Jason bought ads4dough from it’s former owners (good guys, btw, one of whom is Rick, now an AM at copeac) originally as a way to get better payouts for the offers he was already running, as well as a good way to see how directtrack works. He ended up seeing enough potential to develop out the thing and hire some affiliate managers, etc.
There are several remarkable things about A4D. First, Jason is extremely honest with everyone. He’ll tell you exactly how much he’s making per lead on an offer, and how much he’s willing to pay you. The lead volume and EPC stats are clearly shown for each offer so you don’t have to pry the info from the icy gasp of your AM. If there’s an offer you’re currently running elsewhere, you can pretty much just ask Jason and he’ll try to get it on the network for you if he can, and give you a better payout. Want help with your landing page? Want to actually know how to properly run a PPC campaign? Want real advice on what’s actually making people thousands of dollars profit per day instead of “OMG WE JUST GOT A NEW BLOCKBUSTER ONLINE OFFER LOL!” Then these are the guys for you. Even if Jason weren’t a good personal friend, Nickycakes would still recommend the hell out of his network. Really good guys, for real. Sign up here
Keep it real.
Published by nickycakes //
Well, it’s been confirmed. Nickycakes is speaking at affiliate summit west 09 in las vegas in january. It’s some panel about affiliate marketing and blogging or something.
Normally, Nickycakes recommends just getting the exhibit hall pass, but the speakers are lookin pretty good this year. If you’re ballin and can afford it, throw down for a full pass and come see the Cakes get his talk on.
Apparently also speaking at some point will be Cakes’ good friend, and frequenter of #cakes chat, Tobsn of seo-blackhat.com. Certainliy one of the most talented dudes in the biz, even if his uninformed global economy rants can be draining ;).
If you have not been to an Affiliate Summit, and especially if you’ve not been to an Affiliate Summit in Vegas, it’s probably one of the best experiences you will ever have in this industry. The stuff you learn just from hanging out with other marketers and seeing what kinda stuff is really possible is amazing. In this biz, without meeting with the people you work with face to face, it’s hard to build trust, and ASW gives you the opportunity to do that. The parties are usually off the hook, although total sausage fests.
If you don’t have an awesome time, Nickycakes will let you come find him at the next public event and try to beat him up like a true internet gangsta.
Click here to go register for ASW.
Keep it real.
Published by nickycakes //
